First of all, happy birthday!!! I hope you have a nice day and are able to celebrate to your hearts content!
Secondly, I always toy around with the idea of the rangers raising monsties together so I'd love to see your take with Eleanor, Simon, Gaul and the heir!
Gaul, Simon, and Eleanor Raising Monsties with the Heir!
First off, thank you!, I appreciate it a lot!!
Simon and the Heir have hatched more than a few eggs together as kids, but those were cared for by the stablepaws since the two were younger. As adults, the two have a more active role. Simon raised Fawn himself from a chick, the Heir’s monsties were raised by them, all done together.
But this situation was different. An elder dragon egg is exceptionally rare as it is. The Heir recognizes its pattern as such immediately. Simon sizes it up, glances to the Heir and says “What are the odds this has anything to do with that Namielle we drove off?”
“I’d say it’s pretty high. But we can’t be sure until it hatches.”
So the two circle the responsibility of caring for the egg until it hatches. Ensuring the egg stays warm, has proper moisture, and is moved for stimulation. Elder dragons are special and require extensive care for optimal hatching conditions. And when the egg begins to shift and the rites are performed, neither are surprised when a Namielle hatches.
Namielle grows fast but she’s intent on being the neediest little creature known. Ranger work is made harder now that she doesn’t want to be left alone. Turns out Namielles are very involved parents for their babies and give round-the-clock care. Congrats, you two, you’re her parents now!
Namielle loves getting underfoot. She’s restless, bite-y and absolutely obsessed with following Simon and the Heir. She scampers after the two rangers, biting at their ankles if they try to leave her behind or start going in different directions away from each other (much to Ratha and Fawn’s chagrin. They’re not exempt from ankle nips.) Literally no work gets done with her trailing them. She’s too small to follow on expeditions and she stages a one-dragon rebellion if she’s left in the stables for too long. The stablepaws are starting to complain about scorched whiskers.
Even meetings with the Rangers are complicated with Namielle climbing up the Heir’s back while they’re reporting to the others.
“You have a little someone on your back.”
“I’m aware. Now as for the fluctuations in the Aptonoth population-“
Simon thinks it’s all very amusing until Namielle decides the book he’s reading cannot be more interesting than her and chucks it across the room right out of his hands. Multiple times. She’s eaten some books. There’s a joke about food for the brain in there somewhere but he’s too annoyed to make it.
Nights are rough. No dragons are allowed in the castle, and she’s very very not happy about it. Those first few weeks are not fun, full of screeching and running circles in her nest. Not even Ratha can set her right. The Heir hurries down one night, hoping to circumvent another tantrum and finds Simon lying down in a pile of hay, Namielle snuggled up fast asleep on his chest. He lifts his head while half asleep, looks over to the Heir standing bewildered in the doorway, and lies his head back down.
“I could hear her from my place,” he mumbles, as Namielle nuzzles her head under his chin. It’s as good an explanation as any. The Heir doesn’t feel right to just leave him alone while they sleep comfortably in their bed. They draw closed the gate and settle in beside Simon, just like they used to as kids. Half asleep, he draws his arm around their shoulder and pulls them closer. “For Namielle’s sake.” Namielle spreads her wings over the two, stepping about awkwardly on them until she’s got both in a full body hug she’s pleased with.
Yeah good luck releasing her in the environment, she’s not going anywhere.
The freshly hatched Astalos in Eleanor’s arms chitters and bobs its head. She’s completely dumbfounded and hoists it up to inspect it.
“Well it’s adapted to the elemental specialization of Mirror Lake,” the Heir explains, scratching the wyvern’s chin.
Eleanor is completely in awe of the little guy. The coloration is gorgeous and a mastery over two elements? She’s smitten with the little one. And Astalos is smitten with her. Doesn’t matter that the Heir hatched him, he’s scampering after her. Astalos mimics Angie as he follows Eleanor out of camp on excursions. He makes for a poor Ajanath but a darn cute one. It’s amusing for the Heir to see the little creature completely enamored with Eleanor and decides to stick close by as much as they can so Astalos doesn’t miss her too much.
During the early days of his monstie training, he stops every so often to look to Eleanor for approval if he performs his orders well, much to the Heir’s amusement. He likes to sit right between the two during dinners and fly low to stay close to both Eleanor and the Heir. If he can find a way to be close to both of them, it’s his ideal place to be. Astalos loves the Heir, who protected him and raised him, but his affection for Eleanor is special. She makes his dinners the way he likes, he scratches her nose crest the very best, and she’s warm and snuggly. Just like a mama-stalos!
That’s her baby now, no if ands or buts.
So when a battle against a calamitous Yama sends Astalos flying off course and crashing hard with the Heir, Eleanor is worried sick. Though it could’ve been worse, and luckily no bones were broken, the young monstie is distressed and clearly in pain. Eleanor is stuck to the Heir’s side as they treat Astalos’ bad wing together, fidgeting so much she can’t focus. She holds his head in her lap, carefully feeding him as the Heir works tirelessly to patch him up. By the time the Heir is done, Astalos is completely passed out from the pain and Eleanor is barely holding back tears.
“Of course. He’s strong. Especially when he’s got you looking after him.”
Eleanor helps the Heir next, patching them up carefully now that Astalos is resting and in the clear. She ties the bandages as carefully as she can, brushing her fingers over the bound wounds with clear tenderness. She pretends not to notice the color that flushes the Heir’s cheeks. It’s harder than it sounds, especially when she knows her own cheeks are rosy.
The two stick by his side together as Astalos recovers. Slowly but surely, he gets back on his feet, and he’s strong as before. Still, Eleanor can’t help but fret. After all, he and his rider are very, very dear to her. The dual element is something that calls to her, so Eleanor is very interested in getting herself something to help protect those she cares about.
This guy swore he’d be a one monstie man. Just him and Legia. More monsties are more responsibility and he’s got 5 whole felynes to help. But the Heir encouraged the others to get more monsties following the assassination attempts made against them. And Gaul is less than excited about it.
He scopes out eggs, grumbling as Legia gives him a hand sniffing them out. He needs something strong, something that can hit a lot of targets while Ratha focuses on one, that much is clear. He scopes before a very familiar roar cuts through the air and Gaul groans. “Can’t even search for eggs without them getting in my business.”
Legia makes a sound that’s almost like a laugh. The Heir lands beside him, excited. “Gaul! There’s a Seregios den not to far from here, in a dragon element ecosystem of all places! Do you want to check it out?!
Gaul tries to brush it off but man, it’s so clear his interest is piqued far more than his pride is rustled. The two get in and out of the den without waking the monster slumbering by the nest (which is easier said than done with the Heir admiring the scales of the wild Seregios up close and personal.)
Sereg is hatched, dark scaled with dragon energy, surrounded by Gaul, the Heir, and the Furtive Five! Gaul is impressed with the immediate power he can recognize in it, raw and untapped. Before the hatchling immediately scuttles away to investigate and then he’s reminded that Seregios, for all their territorial behavior, are woefully curious. He’s gone from Ranger to Wrangler in a single day.
He cannot take his eyes off Sereg for more than a minute or that lil guy will wander away and absolutely get eaten. He’s already saved him from sticking his head in an oven Eleanor was preheating, out of a very annoyed Ratha’s food bin, and from wandering off a cliff like three times. And that’s just in the first week.
After the first week, he pulls the Heir over to the nest, points at Sereg who is casually chewing through rope meant to keep him in the monstie area. “Fix this or else he’s your problem. Please.”
“Well, that’s one way to ask for help. But since you said please, I’ll help.”
The Heir’s seen their fair share of monsties of different temperaments: calm, curious, mild, very, very spicy, you name it, they’ve worked with it. So they give Gaul some very unorthodox advice.
“Satisfy his curiosity. He wants to learn, so give him a safe way to explore.”
“Isn’t there a saying about curiosity killing felynes?”
“Well he’s not a felyne so that’s irrelevant.”
“That’s… not how that works, Captain.”
It totally is. So with the Heir and Gaul, Sereg gets his very own field trip! He’s poking his nose in places it doesn’t belong and not getting it bitten off. He’s seeing which berries are good and bad under Gaul’s watchful eye. Sometimes he just stops and stares at things he’s interested in, admiring the little things. And Gaul finds himself stopping to notice things he’s never really noticed. How light catches the leaves and Sereg’s scales, the way the air smells sweeter, and how the Heir smiles when they’re at peace. A million little things he’s never noticed in detail.
By the end of the day, Sereg is knocked out. He’s falls asleep on Gaul’s lap, snoring away loudly. He’s half dozing himself, exhausted. Halfway through he blinks, and when he wakes up, his head is resting on the Heir’s. They’ve leaned to the side to support him and are fast asleep. He’s reluctant at first— this is so not allowed —but finally he relents and returns to resting his head on theirs. Just this once.
